Bench-vise.



E. E. THAYER.

BENCH V'ISE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 24, 1909.

969,003, Patented Aug. 30,1910.

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E. E. THAYER.

BENCH VISE. APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 24, 1909.

969,003. 2 Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER E. 'IHAYER, or STEGE, CALIFORNIA.

BENCH-VISE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER E. THAYER, a citizen of the Unittd States, residing at Stege, in the county of Contra Costa and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Bench-Vises, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bench Vises, and has for an object to provide a device of this character which will include novel and simple means for adjusting the jaw, and for holding the same in the desired position.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is further disclosed, and it will be understood that changes within the scope of the claims can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings, forming a portion of this specification and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views :Figure 1 is a vertical section through my improved vise. Fig. 2 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. .1. Fig. 3 is a detail section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a front elevation of the vise. Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a detail section taken through a portion of the vise showing a slightly modified form of dog.

As illustrated, the vise herein shown consists of a bench 1 provided with a supporting standard 2 which has a portion extended upwardly in a vertical plane to or above the bench top to form the fixed jaw 3 of the vise. Upon the underside, the bench has secured thereto a bracket 4 provided with guide members 5 and 6 disposed in line with each other, the member 6 being disposed in a passage 7 formed in the standard. The said guide members have slidably mounted therein a bar 8 having upon its bottom face or edge, a series of rack teeth 9. The bar 8, at its outer end is engaged in a socket 10 of a jaw 11, which latter consists of a vertically disposed metallic plate provided with a perfectly smooth inner face, as shown, and upon the outer face, the said plate is provided with a plurality of vertical reinforcing ribs 12 and with a plurality of horizontal ribs 13. The jaw 11 may be secured to the bar 8 by means of a pin 14 or the like so that the same can be removed and replaced by a jaw of a different character according to the work to be performed, as will be fully un- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 24, 1909.

Patented Aug. 30, 1910.

Serial No. 519,342.

ceive the ends of a pin 18. The pin 18 isengaged with a dog 19 and with the arms 20 of a fork at the inner end of a link 21 which forms part of a toggle lever 21. The link 21 of said lever is pivoted to the inwardly extending web 22 of the bracket 4, and at the other end to the inner end of the ling 21 by means of a pin or the like 23. The arms 24: of links 25 are pivotally engaged at their upper ends with said pin 23. A lever or actuating element 26 is pivoted at its upper extremity to the web 22 and extends downwardly from the said web and is located directly behind the standard 2. The lever or actuating element is provided at its lower extremity with an outwardly directed foot engaging arm 27 which carries a head 28 that can be conveniently engaged'by the foot of the operator of the vise. The arm or foot engaging portionis disposed with a portion in an elongated vertical slot 29 formed in the standard 2 and the under face of said arm has secured thereto a ratchet element or bar 30 having its teeth extending downwardly so that they can be engaged by thepawl 31 carried by the lever 32. The lever 32 is pivoted at its inner end to the bracket 33 of the standard 2 and extends through the slot 29, the arm 34 of said lever having a yoke-shaped outer end portion which straddles the portion 27 of the lever 26 and which provides at each side of said lever a foot engaging finger 35. In order that the dog may be normally held inengagement with the ratchet element 30 I provide at the lower end of the standard 2a strong helical spring 36 or suitable elastic element engaged with said lever 32.

The lever 26 carries at its upper end, a downwardly inclined support or member 37 to which the lower ends of the links 25 are pivoted, as shown. At the lower end, the support or member is disposed m a balancing weight 38, and secured in 1ts operative position by means of a set screw or fastening 39. The screw 39 is beveled upon one spondingly shaped recess 40 in the member or support 37. The disks are connected to each other by means of an ear l1 perforated to receive the lower end of a connection or guide rod 42. The lower end of the rod or connection is provided with adjusting nuts 43, and the upper end is loosely mounted in an eye at that extends from the dog 19. It may be mentioned that the nose 45 of the dog extends upwardly and is beveled at its outer end to effectively engage the teeth of the bar 8.

In operation, the portion 28 of the lever 26 is depressed by the foot of the operator of the device and in this movement the arm 37 of the lever will be moved upwardly to carry therewith the links 24 and in view of the fact that these links are operatively connected with the toggle lever, the tendency of the links forming said lever will be to as sume approximately a horizontal position and will force the pin 18 in a rearward clirection and in view of the connection be tween this pin and the bar engaging dog 19, the latter will effectively engage the teeth of the bar to transmit to the latter a sliding movement in a rearward direction, thus accurately and in a convenient manner moving the jaw 11 toward the fixed jaw 3 at the upper end of the standard 2. The construction of the device herein disclosed is such that the teeth of the rack bar 30 will be engaged with the pawl 31 after the lever 26 has been operated as just described whereby the sliding jaw is held in its proper adjusted position. \Vhen it is desired to release the dog 19 from the co-engaging teeth of the bar 8, the arm 34 is pushed downwardly by the foot of the operator so as to disengage the dog 31 from the teeth of the bar 30. The lever 26 herein disclosed is such that it will have a tendency when disengaged from the dog 31 to swing forwardly and in this movement, the rod 43 which is carried by the disks 38 will be drawn downwardly so as to draw the tooth engaging portion of the dog 19 into its inoperative position, or in other words release this dog from the rack bar to allow the latter to be moved in a forward or rearward direction.

In the form of my invention shown in Fig. 6, the bench 1 is provided with a bracket t from which ears 16 depend, and as illustrated these ears are slotted longitudinally in a manner identical with that described in the preferred form of my invention. A dog 17 is disposed between the ears and is provided with a horizontally disposed pin 18 which is engaged at its ends in the slots formed in the ears 16. The pin 18 is engaged with the dog at a point adjacent to the front end thereof so that the dog is provided with a weighted tail 19. The forward edge portion of the tail is inclined and is adapted for cooperation with a pin or dog releasing means 20; Links 21 are eii g a'ged with the end portions of the pin 18,- and these links are equivalent to corresponding links forming a portion of the toggle lever described in the preferred form of my invention. The construction of the modified form of my invention is such that when the pin 18 is at the rearward limit of its movement the toothed end of the dog is held out of engagement with the teeth of the rack bar 8 by reason of the fact that the inclined face of the dog is engaged with the pin or releasing means 20 so as to hold the weighted end of the said dog upwardly. Upon movement of the pin 18 in a direction opposite to that just described the inclined face of the dog will be moved out of engagement with the pin or releasing means 20 whereby the weighted end of the dog will fall downwardly by gravity in order that the rack bar engaging portion of the dog can be moved into its operative position.

I claim 1. A bench vise comprising a fixed jaw, a sliding rack bar, a jaw upon the said rack bar cooperating with the said fixed jaw, a sliding dog located beneath the teeth of the rack bar, an operating lever, an angle lever operatively connected with the said operating lever and with the said sliding dog, the said operating lever having a portion extended rearwardly beyond its connection with'the angle lever, and a weight supported by said portion and serving to normally hold the operating lever in a position to cause the said sliding dog to be engaged with the teeth of the said rack bar.

2. A vise of the class described comprising a fixed jaw, a sliding rack bar, a jaw upon the said rack bar cooperating wlth the said fixed jaw, a sliding dog adapted for operation to actuate the rack bar to cause the aw thereof to move toward the said fixed jaw, an angle lever pivoted at one end to the support for the fixed jaw and having its other end operatively connected with the said sliding dog, an operating lever operatively connected with the angle lever whereby upon movement of the latter in one direction sliding movement will be imparted to the said dog to move the rack bar in one direction, a guide rod, a pivot screw, and a weight connected by the said pivot screw to the said operating lever and proivded with an eye portion slidably engaged with the said guide rod.

3. A vise of the class described comprising a fixed jaw, a sliding jaw, a lever operatively connected with the sliding jaw and adapted for operation to move the sliding jaw toward the said fixed jaw, the said lever having a foot-receiving portion provided with a ratchet face, and a spring pressed sliding dog yieldingly engaged with the said ratchet face and provided with spaced foot-engaging fingers Which are disposed at the sides of the said foot-engaging portion of the lever.

4. In a structure of the class described, a bench having a fixed jaw, a sliding rack bar supported by the bench and having a j aW cooperating With the said fixed jaw, a sliding dog supported by the bench, a guide rod supported by the bench, an operating lever, an angle lever pivoted at one end to the bench and operatively connected at its other end with the said sliding dog, a pivoted Weight supported by the controlling lever and slidably engaged With the said guide rod, the said operating lever having a ratchet face formed thereon, and a dog 00- operating With the said ratchet face.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

'ELMER E. THAYER.

Vitnesses:

CHARLES NEUMAN, CHARLES C. BRUGGE. 

